A Force Commanded Impedance Control for a Robot Finger with Uncertain Kinematics

We consider the problem of impedance control for the physical interaction between the soft tip of a robot finger, where the nonlinear characteristics of the reproducing force and the finger dynamic parameters are unknown, and a rigid object or environment under kinematic uncertainties arising from both uncertain contact point location and uncertain rigid object geometry. An adaptive controller is proposed, and the asymptotic stability of the force regulation problem is shown for the planar case even when finger kinematics and rigid surface orientation are uncertain. Confirmation of the theoretical findings is done through simulation of a 3-degree-of-freedom planar robotic finger.